The pastoral role of the Roman Catholic church in pre-Famine Ireland, 1750–1850

Emmet Larkin

'There are some books that deal with aspects of pre-Famine Irish Catholicism, but none can compete with Larkin's in broad coverage, detail, source evidence, subject knowledge, and brilliance of interpretation', Lawrence J. McCaffrey, Loyola University, Chicago.

'The reader will find a wealth of material which is fascinating in its complexity and highly informative in its substance ... Four Courts Press have done their usual impeccable job in producing this book and the monochrome illustrations are an added advantage to what is an attractively-produced volume', Ciarán Mac Murchaidh, Irish Economic and Social History (2007).

‘Emmet Larkin is the doyen of historians of the Catholic Church in the centuries between the penal laws and the end of the union. He has an unrivalled knowledge and mastery of the main primary sources: the relevant Roman archives, the archives of the various Irish dioceses, and a wide miscellany of other ecclesiastical papers, both printed and in manuscript form. The rang and richness of Larkin’s sources are matched by the scale of his ambition: the adjective “monumental” springs readily, and correctly, to mind…’, Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, Irish Literary Supplement (Fall 2008).

‘[Professor Larkin] makes it clear that this book is only a start in a very considerable field, but it is a very fine start … The details of the story are fascinating, and the amount of research undertaken was evidently very considerable. This is a most valuable study, which achieves a great deal in itself', Dublin Historical Record.

'Deals impressively with the construction of chapels or churches', Ambrose Macaulay, Seancas Ard Maca.